HISTORY OF BALL ESTATES
Ball Estates consists of over 60 acres located at the end of Camille Avenue in West Side Alamo, California. It consists of an estate home with ancillary structures including a pool house, gazebo, and bar, barns, and an office building.
The estate home was originally designed by master architect, Arthur Brown Jr., Mr. Brown is best known for his public and commercial architecture, with nine works listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The town of Alamo was established before 1854 with the first post office being opened in 1853 on the north end of Alamo. The Masonic Lodge was organized in 1958. Alamo is the second-oldest town in Contra Costa next to Martinez. Agriculture supported the town of Alamo; wheat was originally grown there. In the 1870s, Central Pacific Railroad, which later became Southern Pacific Railroad, began serving and established lines through Alamo with a stop in Danville.
The first documented owner of the Ball Estate was Camille Grosjean, a drover from France. Walter Arstein, the founding partner and president of the Antioch, Oakland, and Eastern Railroad, purchased the property in 1911 and intended to build a summer home. Arthur Brown, Jr., of the architecture firm Bakewell & Brown, was hired to design the home. The Arsteins used the house as a summer and weekend house into the 1920s while maintaining a residence in San Francisco. He sold the Ball Estate to the Clark Investment Company in 1924.
Maureen D. Hutchinson purchased the property in 1926 with a $20,000 mortgage. Her husband was a road-paving contractor in Oakland. She significantly remodeled the house. Her husband, Dwight, apparently, posted a sign along Danville Road reading “Dwight’s Ranch, 1 Mile.”
In 1935, Bert and Helen Railey purchased the property from the Hutchinsons. The Raileys had relocated from Kansas City, Missouri. Mr. Railey was Vice President of Peet Brothers, which merged with Palmolive and became Colgate-Palmolive Peet.
In 1946, Gordon H. Ball and Dorothy E. Ball purchased the home and surrounding property. Gordon was a second-generation general contractor involved in the construction of roads, tunnels, dams, and canals. Gordon Ball’s father, Michael Nathan Ball, was the first contractor awarded a contract by the State of California to build roads after having created a concrete irrigation system through his orange orchards in Porterville, California. Gordon’s company, Gordon H. Ball Co., was consistently among the top 400 heavy construction companies in the nation.
Gordon and Dorthy raised five children at the estate, including: Gordon N. Ball; Dennis W. Ball; Susan L. Syar; Marsha Ball; and Steven Ball.
The Balls used the property as a ranch for horses, cattle, pigs, and other livestock. Gordon also planted a walnut orchard which produced walnuts. Gordon built an office on the grounds out of which he operated his construction company at the Estate in approximately 1969. Gordon operated his heavy construction company out of that location for many years, followed by Gordon N. Ball’s company, Ball, Ball & Brosamer, Inc., and a subsequent company, Gordon N. Ball, Inc.
Dorothy Ball remodeled the house on a number of occasions and continually updated and redid the landscaping at the property. Dorothy was extremely passionate about and took great pride in the landscaping and her home.
The extended Ball family including 8 children thoroughly enjoyed the property with many family events including weddings, birthdays, holiday celebrations (including Easter egg hunts), school events, teas and many other celebrations. Gordon and Dorothy donated the use the Estate to many philanthropic causes and for political events.
Gordon passed away in 1978 and Dorothy in 2007.
